TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
5 OCTOBER 2014
The
prophet Isaiah took a look at what was going on in his society, he did not like
what he saw. He saw widespread disregard
for the Covenant between God and his people.
He saw many people returning to the worship of false gods when they
thought that God was not listening to their needs. He saw the wealthy disregarding the needs of
the poor and cheating them in the marketplace.
He saw married couples being unfaithful to their vows, people lying to and
cheating one another. Instead of seeing
the Law of Moses as guides for living the covenant, people were simply ignoring
them and doing what they wanted.
So, Isaiah
used a familiar image. Everyone knew
what a vineyard looked like and how much work it took to maintain a healthy
vineyard to produce good fruit. He
reminded his people that God was the tenant, and they were the people who made
up his vineyard. God had transplanted
them from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Kingdom of Israel. God had cleared the land for them, provided
them with the best opportunities, and removed their stony hearts. God had done all the hard work, and they had
ignored him and thought only of themselves.
As a result, they were producing bad fruit and would pay the consequences.
Jesus uses
that same image as he approaches Jerusalem and his imminent death. In his parable, he reminds us that God had
sent numerous prophets like Isaiah to remind his people that the vineyard was
his, and that they were responsible for producing good fruit by their
actions. After they were ignored and
some of them killed, Jesus himself is the Son who will be murdered outside the
city walls. He would become the stone
rejected by the builders which would become the cornerstone. Once the old structure had collapsed, God
would give his vineyard to others.
We are the
ones who now form the vineyard of the Lord.
We are here today to celebrate the Lord's victory over sin and death on
the cross. Jesus is not telling us to
look back in history to condemn those who did not produce fruit. Instead, he
invites us to take a look at our vineyard to see what kind of fruit we
are producing.
For forty
years, the Bishops of our country have asked us to set aside the month of
October as "respect life" month.
If we are honest, we can see many ways in which our society does not
foster a culture of life. Our society
focuses on consuming stuff. As a result,
we are tempted to hoard our stuff and ignore the needs of the poor or the
community of believers. Our society puts
great emphasis on those things that serve our needs. As a result, people are tempted to ignore the
human life in the womb or the elderly in the nursing homes, because paying
attention to them might be inconvenient.
Our society tells us to use violence in response to damage done to
us. As a result, we too easily give up
on negotiations and ways of reconciling differences. Our society keeps talking
about the good life and being happy. As
a result, we are tempted to see no value in human suffering and take any steps
to get rid of suffering.
When we
give into these and many more temptations, we ignore the reality that our
vineyard belongs to God, and that God wants us to produce good fruit. Barb Williams has put up a wonderful display
in the back of church. Please take some
time to look at that display and see so many ways in which our Respect Life
Ministries are working to help us develop a culture of life in the midst of a
popular culture that not only produces bad fruit, but which also brings death
in so many ways. Look at the
opportunities which are available to all of us during this month. They provide occasions for both prayer and
action.
Saint Paul
tells us to have no anxiety at all. He
is not saying, "stick your heads in the sand and ignore the evils of our
day." Nor is he saying, "don't
worry, be happy. Instead of worrying and
wringing our hands, we can trust God working through us to be better tenants of
his vineyard and produce good fruit.
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